Baby tantrums

[evansmummy]

Is it possible for a nealry 6 month old to throw a huge tantrum? Our ds, for reasons we don't often understand, seems to get really stroppy, screaming just as loud as he can, hitting out at us and kicking his little legs. If we pick him up/cuddle him etc. he usually stops. But I wondered if this was like a toddler tantrum, where you're supposed to ignore, or if we were doing the right thing in picking him up. I don't even know if it's possible for a baby of this age to throw a tantrum. Any ideas/advice muchly appreciated!!

Your DS is not having tantrums, he is just expressing himself in a way that he has learned you understand, it is just his way of saying he wants a cuddle.

My little girl does the same thing she is 5 months think they are just finding out they can make new sounds

I'm dealing with these in the night at the moment, but I'm just assuming it is his way of telling me he doesn't want me to put him down (is VERY clingy atm). I'm working on the basis that for the first year, he just needs something (food, nappy, cuddle). Just when that becomes more manipulative, I really don't know but I am trying not to think of him in that way. I have no idea if I am creating a rod for my own back but I just don't want to pitch myself against him (he is 7m).

Not possible to have a tantrum at six weeks. He won't have any limb control so any 'hitting' is purely because you are in the way of his arms and legs. He CANNOT aim at you. Often uncontrolled and uncoordinated kicking combined with crying is just a sign of tiredness. Or he could be hungry.
No such thing as manipulativeness in a baby - they cannot and do not have any idea what is happening in your mind, so therefore cannot 'trick' you in any way. It is as impossible as a six month old doing complicated algebra, or, indeed, flying around the room.
They only know their own needs. To be fed, to go to sleep, to interact with the people they love, to be warm, to be held. And quite often they don't even know those very clearly at all. When your young baby cries they are just expressing a need and IMO if you can meet that need you are teaching them that the world is a good place with people in it who love them and that they are worthy of your love.
IN your case, Evansmummy, I would suspect tiredness, hunger, boredom or just a strong desire to be held in your arms, none of which are unreasonable in a baby. Though I do totally understand the desire to put your baby down and do something else from time to time!

aloha, firstly my ds is 6 MONTHS and not weeks old.

Secondly, this fits of crying come from nowhere at any time, and not just when I put him down! Sometimes he'll be happily playing or kicking on his play/changing mat, and the all of a sudden he'll start screaming!

I accept your idea that it's not possible to have a tantrum at that age, and that's the feeling I had myself, but my dh was /is convinced that our baby CAN and DOES have tantrums and I was just searching for some reassurance.

I don't want you to think I'm a mother who doesn't tend to her baby's needs - that's not at all the case. I've just a particularly demanding baby, I think, who seems to feel the need to scream when he needs something!

I don't really understand why you're talking about 'putting the baby down and doing something else'. That has nothing to do with my question!!